All-Access with Arians: John Abraham returns, preseason game No. 2

By Adam Green | August 14, 2014 at 8:09 pmUPDATED: August 14, 2014 at 8:09 pm

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Head coach Bruce Arians, now in his second year with the Arizona Cardinals, meets the media each day during training camp.

Here, in this space, we’ll highlight many of the key topics and personnel conversations he has with reporters following the morning walk-through:

“John Abraham is here, getting his physical. Will spend the afternoon when he gets back with Buddy Morris and the training staff, get him up to speed and see how it goes. But he’s here ready to roll.

“Yesterday’s practice, offensively, was very, very crisp other than some penalties; we had a few hands to the face and a couple interceptions that were not good, but other than that it was a very solid practice. Defensively, it was probably the worst practice we’ve had all training camp and I’m sure we’ll bounce back better today.”

What can Desmond Bishop do for you?

“He’s played inside, outside, and we’re going to look at him at inside. He’s had 120-some tackles some years. He’s coming back from surgery so he was a guy that we’ve had our eye on for a long time. He worked out for us twice and he’s healthy enough to get going. We’ve been looking forward to this, to getting him into the mix.”

How much time, realistically, does John Abraham need to get back to normal?

“We’ve got what, 21 days before we play? That’s a long time. He showed up last year the first day of training camp and he got himself ready to play, so I have all the confidence in the world he’ll get himself ready to play.”

How concerned are you that what John Abraham had to go through will impact his performance, standing in the locker room?

“The locker room, no. They’re all supportive of John. We know he had to go through what he did to get back to here. We’re all behind him. Right now it’s just physical, getting in shape and getting ready to go.”

What is your main objective for Saturday night?

“Win. Win, and continue to play as well as we did. I’m not anxious to see us play a lot of snaps. I hope to see us play really well, get out of there and let the young guys continue to get tape and make a case to be here.”

What have you seen from Darren Fells lately?

“He continues to improve. He’s blocking extremely well. He still has those bonehead plays that he has to get rid of. That experience level — he’s experiencing a lot of new things too many times. But he’s blocking extremely well and as we keep it simple. I was disappointed he dropped that pass last Saturday because he’s got great hands; I think he tried to score before he caught it. But he’s steadily improving.”

Has Ryan Lindley responded well knowing that this Saturday is his chance?

“He should know that; it’s obvious. Yeah, he better play good. If he plays bad it’s not going to be really good for him.”